Wanda Siximba is celebrating 18 years and is currently serving as a Ground Operation Manager (GOM) for the western region for WOF Western Cape. Siximba is one of many firefighters who have climbed the ranks and is occupying her space in a management position. In addition, Siximba is one of many women leaders within the Programme, a testament to the Programme’s commitment to empowering and uplifting women into leadership positions.

The former firefighter was recruited in 2005, at the Newlands base. The next three years were fruitful for Siximba because she successfully completed training and was nominated and appointed to the Crew leader Type 2 and Type 1 positions. She led her team until late 2009 when she secured promotion as a Training Instructor for the Kishugu Training Academy.

During her time as an instructor, Siximba furthered her education, completing a course in Structural Firefighting 1 and 2. This landed her a promotion as a Structural Firefighter Instructor, in an old division of the WoF Programme in 2010. Three years later, Siximba was appointed as a Regional Manager for WoF’s Structural Firefighters, based in the Western and Eastern Cape municipalities. She served in this position until 2019 when she was promoted to her current position.
Siximba is a born leader and has proven to be very valuable to the Programme. Her work ethic is constantly recognised with call-ups to international deployment.Her first internationa deployment was in 2021 at Canada, and with her second being the 2023 WoF Canadian deployment.She has also assisted in various projects throughout the years, including the ground-breaking Onrus River Underground Fire.

“As the firstborn child in my family, I was born with leadership qualities. However, it was at WOF where these were groomed, sharpened, and given the freedom to reach their full potential.”

Siximba is currently flying the South African flag in Canada as part of the management that has been deployed to assist with the suppression of the raging wildfires in Canada.